Nachtstücke

The Nachtstücke or Night Pieces are a set of four character pieces for piano by the German composer and pianist Robert Schumann.

Historical background

The Nachtstücke (Night Pieces), Op. 23, were composed in 1839 together with Faschingsschwank aus Wien and published one year later. The Intermezzo from Faschingsschwank was originally published as a supplement to the Neue Zeitschrift and identified as a 'fragment from the Nachtstücke which are to appear shortly'. Schumann envisaged the following titles for the four pieces:

1. Trauerzug ("Funeral procession")
2. Kuriose Gesellschaft ("Strange company")
3. Nächtliches Gelage ("Nocturnal revelries")
4. Rundgesang mit Solostimmen ("Roundelay with solo voices")

These titles were not included in the original edition.

Death of brother

Schumann wrote the Nachtstücke under extremely stressful circumstances. He was spending the winter in Vienna. On March 30, 1839, he received a letter concerning the imminent death of his older brother Eduard (1799–1839), which could have meant economic disaster to the family's publishing business. In a letter to his fiancée Clara Wieck he wrote, "Wouldn’t you leave me if I were now to become a very poor man and told you to leave me because I would bring you nothing but sorrow?".

Because he had premonitions of his brother's death, he wanted to call his new composition Corpse Fantasia.

"I always saw funeral processions, coffins, unhappy and despairing people. [...] Often I was so distraught that tears flowed and I didn’t know why—then [Eduard's wife] Therese's letter arrived and I knew why".

While working on his Corpse Fantasia Schumann always got stuck "at a place where it seemed as if someone was sobbing 'O God' from a heavy heart".

Schumann left Vienna for Zwickau, Germany on April 5, 1839, one day before his brother would die there. (He actually missed the funeral.) He wrote to Clara:

"Half past three on Saturday morning, while traveling, I heard a chorale of trombones—it was the moment Eduard died. [...] I still feel stunned by all the exertion. [...] Without you I long ago would have been where he is now".

Schumann eventually heeded the advice of Clara concerning the title of the work: "The public won’t understand what you mean and it will bother them. I think you should settle for the general title Nightpieces".

Schiller's Funeral Phantasy

18th century poets apparently were less scrupulous.

did write a Leichenphantasie which may have inspired Schumann. The opening fits the mood of Schumann's Funeral Procession:

Romantic traits

There is no obvious programmatic relationship between Schumann's Night Pieces and

’s narrations collected under the same title, but the fantastic, gloomy and macabre mood is similar.

The pieces

Nachtstück 1

Funeral procession
C Major

The Trauerzug has the indication 'Mehr langsam, oft zurückhaltend' ('More slow, often holding back' [the tempo]). The image of ghostly groping is evoked by the short eighth note chords in piano, the

holes' in the last four bars foreshadow 20th century techniques.

Nachtstück 2

Curious gathering
F Major

Kuriose Versammlung – (Markiert und lebhaft "Marked and lively") abounds with frequent digressions. The constant mood shifts—from frolicsome derisiveness to clownish, coquettish mirth—result in a lack of cohesiveness. The programmatic title indicates that this effect was probably intended by Schumann.

The mechanical quality of the middle part suggests an ‘

from Nachtstücke introduces the famous Olimpia automaton. Nathanael, who is the main character in this narration, falls in love with Olimpia, forgetting his true love, Clara.

Nachtstück 3

Night binge
D♭ Major

Nächtliches Gelage – (Mit großer Lebhaftigkeit "With great vivacity") maybe described as a ‘nocturnal Faschingsschwank’ or 'noctural "Carnival Scene"' and there are unmistakable similarities between these two pieces written at Vienna. But the passion is less healthy in the Nachtstücke. An intoxicated yearning explodes in impulsive outbursts of energy followed by ecstatic reveling. These indulgences are interrupted by two 'intermezzos', the first one a sinister murmuring of repressed agitation, the second one a ghostly 'Wilde Jagd' (Wild Hunt). Apparently unrelated fragments, these episodes do have a close motivic relationship: The first ‘intermezzo’ is fashioned from the closing section of the main theme and the second ‘intermezzo’ imitates the climax of the main theme's A♭ major section.

Nachtstück 4

Roundelay with solo voices
F Major

Schumann is often criticized for using structure merely as a framework on which to spread the themes. The resultant ‘incoherency’ is often attributed to the composer's declining mental health. The fact though remains that Schumann's predilection for allusions has rendered many relationships too subtle for the (non artistic) analyst's senses.

Rundgesang mit Solostimmen – (Ad libitum. Einfach "Freely. Simple"), for example, certainly remembers the march rhythm of the Funeral Procession but has been changed to a simple folk melody, lute-like arpeggios have been added and the displacement of the dotted rhythm has been 'corrected', evoking a feeling of consolation.

The extremely laconic introduction is a blissfully superfluous exclamation of ‘Eusebius’ announcing a conclusive epilogue.

References

External links

• Nachtstücke: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Schumann: Nachtstücke, Op. 23 on
  YouTube
  , Performed by Emil Gilels
• Animated Score on
  YouTube
  , Performed by Emil Gilels
• Performance on
  YouTube
  , piano soloist: Zoltán Fejérvári